The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency met a deadline Thursday on a plan to control emissions from three Arizona power plants that it contends have impaired visibility at places like the Grand Canyon.

The Associated Press reports that the EPA had proposed approving Arizona's air-quality plan to reduce sulfur dioxide and soot at the Apache coal-fired plant in Cochise, along with the Cholla and Coronado plants. But when it came to nitrogen oxide emissions, the EPA suggested the state's plan didn't go far enough and came up with one of its own.

The conflict highlights the tension between the EPA and businesses after an election season in which the notion of heavy-handed environmental regulations became a popular argument for Republican candidates. Arizona and the administration of Republican Gov. Jan Brewer contend the EPA's proposals would cost hundreds of millionsof dollars, causing utility rates to sharply increase for residents.

Instead of low nitrogen-oxide burners, the EPA hinted it might require that some of plants' older units be equipped with selective catalytic reduction technology to keep 17,000 tons nitrogen oxide from being released into the air and causing visibility issues at 18 national parks and wilderness areas.

The Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station power plant located in Tonopah, Arizona,is about 45 miles west of central Phoenix. It is the largest nuclear generation facility in the United States, averaging over 3.3 gigawatts (GW) of electrical power production in 2008. Arizona should use all of this power for Arizona only! Let California build their own power plants. Palo Verde could pick up some of the lost power caused by the federal restrictions!

27
posted on 11/18/2012 8:41:47 PM PST
by Not a 60s Hippy
(They are SOCIALISTS, not Progressive, Liberal, Left Wing, Democrats, Special interest groups.)

I could be wrong, but aren’t these coal fired electric generating plants burning coal from open pit coal mines on Indian land. Some years back the Indians let in the coal miners in order to increase tribal revenue. The lease payments and extraction payments have become very important to the tribe as payments trickle down to every member on the tribal lands and even some away in cities. They don’t have the casino deals as there are few population centers near the tribal lands as the Vegas crowd (Harry Reid’s paymasters) have fought Indian casinos.

What happens to these Indians when the EPA essentially shuts down the electric plants and the mines lose their biggest and almost only customer? Will Great Leader Obama take care of his red/brown brothers?

28
posted on 11/18/2012 8:43:48 PM PST
by RicocheT
(Eat the rich only if you're certain it's your last meal)

There are two major constitutional problems with the EPA, and other so-called "independent federal regulatory agencies," imo. To begin with, the Founding States made THE VERY FIRST numbered clauses in the Constitution, Sections 1-3 of Article I, to clarify that ALL federal legislative powers are vested in the ELECTED members of Congress. So Congress has a constitutional monopoly on all federal legislative powers whether it wants it or not. And by delegating federal legislative powers to third party agences, Congress is wrongly protecting such powers from the wrath of the voters imo.

Here's Section 1 of Article I:

All (emphasis added) legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

In other words, the only reason that I can figure that cititizens and businesses reluctantly ask the EPA, "how high," when the EPA dictates, "Jump!," is because citizens are not being taught constitutional limits on federal government powers in the nation's schools.

Also, what's even worse than Congress unconstitutionally delegating regulatory powers to constitutonally undefined federal agencies like the EPA is this imo. The states have never delegated to Congress via the Constitution the specific power to regulate environmental issues, the 10th Amendment clarifying in general that the Constituton's silence about such things means that such issues are automatically uniquely state power issues. So not only is Congress wrongly delegating legislative powers to rogue federal agencies, but Congress is delegating powers which the states have never delegated to Congress via the Constitution.

Finally, it wouldn't surprise me if Congress's unconstitutonal delegation of federal regulatory powers to agencies like the EPA is nothing more than smoke-and-mirrors way for corrupt Congress to bypass its Article V requirement to petition the states for specific new powers via constitutional amendments.

Here is a view of the Beijing area ( top left center ) on Christmas day, 2007. This is the worst I've ever seen it ( although I haven't really been looking lately ) but the pollution is there is often shockingly bad. The type of thing the EPA is harping on in AZ is 1/100 or even 1/1000 as bad. To me, the gloss of Chinese pollution in public discussion is an outrageous fact in itself.

Has anyone from the east coast been out to the west lately? What pollution, you inner-city-hazed morons? You can see for miles and miles on ANY day. This EPA stuff is utter bullcr*p. It is like when I was a kid and some self-promoting french clod named Jacques Cousteau taught us from his documentaries that the oceans are filled with plastic and assorted pollutants. They aren’t.

One of the targeted plants is our own SSVEC plant in near Wilcox. We went to the public comment meeting and there were over 300 people there to protest this action. The EPA admits there will be no discernable improvement to the “haze”. This has long reaching effects. First, as a co-op, SSVEC is going to have to dramatically increase their rates, or shut down. The estimated cost to do the upgrades the EPA wants is over $8 million dollars plus an annual maintenance cost of over $1 million. They are already in the midst of a costly upgrade but EPA says it is not enough. Second, most of the coal for our plant comes a coal field in Wyoming. My husband's nephew is a foreman there. They have been told if this goes through, they will shut down in two years. All those mine jobs plus the railroad jobs (they just finished a second line) that get the coal down here. Gone.

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